The Freak
by Mellony
Summary: Dudley had always known exactly what Harry was, until he realized that he had been completely wrong.  Aka: Dudley's thoughts on Harry as they grow up.  Eventual HPxDD  Slash between cousins.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: No I don't own anything in regards to Harry Potter.

Summary: Dudley had always known exactly what Harry was, until he realized that he had been completely wrong. (Aka: Dudley's thoughts on Harry as they grow up.) Eventual HPxDD (Slash between cousins.)

Warnings: Mentions of child neglect and abuse. Possible future slash (or at least slashy thoughts) of the incestuous kind (between cousins).

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"The Freak"

Chapter 1

If someone asked Dudley Dursley what he thought of his cousin, the immediate response would have been…

"He's a freak."

Dudley didn't see anything wrong with this statement. It was the truth after all. One his mother and father had enforced since before he could remember. Dudley was their wonderful, precious, _normal_ child and his cousin, Harry, was a strange freak that should be grateful that the Dursley's had taken him in and not just left him on the street or shoved him off into an orphanage.

Dudley had never understood _why _Harry was a freak, but it didn't really matter. He was, and that was all Dudley needed to know.

When they went to school, Dudley, like most children, gathered a group of friends and shared his opinions on various topics with them. For the first time Dudley had to tell his others why his cousin was a freak. This stumped him a little. Wasn't it _obvious_? He just _was_. But other answers soon came as well, from half remembered comments his parents had made before to their own friends.

He's so small

So skinny

Ungrateful

Always gets in the way

He's weird

A trouble maker

Look at his _hair_

And those funky glasses

His clothes don't fit right

He's a _FREAK_!

Dudley's new friends soon agreed with him and started blaming things on Harry when they made a mess or whenever things went wrong. Dudley had never _had_ to blame Harry before, his parents did it for him more often than not, but it was an easy enough transition when dealing with other adults. Dudley learned that most adults were slower in believing that Harry was a freak but once enough trouble was laid at the green eyed boy's feet they would fall in line.

It was Dudley's best friend, Piers, who first started hitting Harry. Well, Dudley's mum and dad gave Harry smacks for some of the freaky things he did before throwing him into his cupboard sometimes, but this was the first time anyone else had done it. Harry was playing with the blocks and Dudley's group had decided that they wanted them. The teacher hadn't been watching so there hadn't been any reason not to take what they wanted, it was only Harry after all. Dudley had been surprised when his cousin resisted, Harry almost never bothered to at home, but he quickly stopped when Piers started hitting him.

As they grew such incidents became more and more common, though always out of sight of the teachers, and 'Harry Hunting' just seems like the most logical next step. Harry wasn't Dudley's gangs only target, but he was the most common one because he was 'the freak'.

To Dudley, it seemed to be his _duty_ to chase after Harry. More and more weird things kept happening around his cousin, a set of dishes the boy knocked over _floated_ to the floor, and didn't break, their teachers hair turned blue while she was yelling at him, he _disappeared_ while Dudley was chasing him and ended up of the _roof_, and then there was the snake incident at the zoo. Dudley still didn't know _how_ Harry had done that but Dudley had _heard_ him _hissing_ to the snake who looked like it was actually _listening_ and then when he interrupted his cousins odd conversation the glass of the tank just _vanished_ letting the snake escape it had _hissed_ _at him_ as it left. The two most memorable things that Dudley recalled from his eleventh birthday was his fear of the snake attacking him and the smile on his cousin's face as it left.

For those few moments Harry had actually looked _happy_. Harry never looked happy, let alone smiled.

Then the letters came. One and two and ten and hundreds of letters and Dudley's dad got weirder and weirder with each one. His mum even gave the freak _his_ second bedroom! Then there was their odd, horrible, 'vacation' to that strange, ugly, little island and the giant who stole Harry and gave Dudley a pig's tail. Harry's 11th birthday, for that's what the day it was, the giant had even brought his cousin a cake, was one of the scariest days of Dudley's life. That was the day he learned that magic was _real_, his cousin had it, and Dudley had gotten an odd, nasty, curly little pig's tail to prove it.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

So his cousin, the freak, had gone off to attend his first year of magic school and Dudley was off to his first year at Smeltings, his dad's old school.

It wasn't too bad. Piers and two others from his old gang were also going to Smeltings so he already had friends when he started and didn't need to worry about a lack of followers. It wasn't hard to get a few new boys to join up either, though the group wasn't quite as large as the one he'd had back in elementary.

However as the months dragged on Dudley actually started to miss his cousin. He had never really had to do his own homework before and both his mother and father were more snappish and stressed without Harry to do the chores or to lash out at. Also, none of the other kids were nearly as fun to harass as Harry. Way too many of them would start to cry or get caught far too easily – barely running. Frankly, when it wasn't Harry they were tormenting, Dudley found the whole thing rather boring, but he kept it up because his gang expected it. Harry was always defiant, bright green eyes shining with anger even though he didn't usually fight back, never tattled – not that anyone would have listened if the boy had- and had a habit of finding new interesting hidey holes when he ran that Dudley could then discover if he could catch the other boy.

Harry had always been there before and now he _wasn't_.

Even though it wasn't as satisfying Dudley kept up the bullying because it filled at least part of the hole his cousin's sudden absence had left in his life. Other children took Harry's place as targets, Dudley let his gang pick them out, and then he made them do the things that Harry once had – such as his homework or taking the fall for things his gang had pulled. It wasn't the same but Dudley it his best not to think about it too much, instead choosing to spend his time wandering the streets with his gang over going home where he would have to deal with his parents.

The months settled into a routine and soon it was summer again and Harry was back.

Dudley wasn't quite sure what he expected when his cousin came home but he was surprised and relieved when everything seemed to go back to _normal_ once his cousin's trunk was locked under the stairs. The only real changes seemed to be that Harry was still living in his second bedroom, the white owl in its cage, and the occasional happy smiles that graced his cousin's face when he thought no one was looking.

Everything was fine now, back to the way things were supposed to be and that was all Dudley had wanted all year.

It was perfect.

Then came the night of that _horrid_ dinner party. Dudley had been forced into a suit and ordered to act politely for a set of his dad's potential investors. He was beyond bored, his suit was itchy, and all the fake smiling and overly polite talk was making his face twitch. All he wanted to do was go back to his video games and so he was slowly trying to sneak out of the living room when he saw it. Some strange looking _creature_ with green/grey skin and big ears and eyes was _levitating_ the dessert pudding in the kitchen while Harry was quietly begging it to leave. Dudley could only stare as the creature refused before gesturing and sending the floating dessert flying through the air with Harry futilely chasing after.

Suddenly, everything was in chaos. The pudding was all over Mrs. Mason's head, the creature was gone, his parents were apologizing and yelling, an _owl_ was flying around the room, and the Mason's left in a huff. There was shouting about Harry doing _magic_ in the house before his dad dragged his protesting cousin up the stairs and threw the boy into his room.

The next day the door, of what was now Harry's room, was lined with multiple locks holding it closed from the outside, a small cat flap at the base. Bars covered the only window outside. It was like staring at a prison cell in his home and every time Dudley walked through the upstairs hall his eyes were drawn to it.

Dudley found himself watching it, staring at its many locks, and eying the cat flap, waiting for the flash of his cousin's small pale hands lifting it to place his meal trays –when he got fed - in the hall.

It was a few weeks later when some strange sounds – those of shrieking metal and a small explosion – woke him in the middle of the night.

It took him a little while to drag himself out of bed and he found himself following his father's voice through Harry's open door.

/_What the..?_/

His father was leaning out of Harry's broken window -the bars were gone- screaming at his cousin. While that wasn't something to be considered unusual, what was outside the window _was._

A blue car was floating outside his cousin's window.

/A _floating CAR?/_

And his cousin was climbing inside it, in midair, helped by two red-headed boys while another drove. Once inside his cousin smiled, waved and shouted that he wouldn't be back till next summer.

With that, the car flew off and vanished right before their eyes.

Not only did the car _fly_ it turned _invisible_.

Dudley returned to his room while his father was still shouting at the sky

/_That was SO COOL! /_


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Dudley's next year at Smelting was very similar to the first and seemed to nearly fly by, the only difference being his occasional dreams of flying cars, odd creatures, invisible people and his cousin. Then it was summer again and his cousin was home – still with locks on his door but now with an unbarred and partially broken window. His dad had fixed the outside of the house but the inner window frame was still cracked.

Once again the summer started off quiet, like all the ones before, but Dudley couldn't help but anticipate what magical event would take his cousin away this year. Would it be terrifying, like the giant, or cool, like that flying car? The thoughts bubbled in the back of his mind and distracted him even as he hung out with his gang. Then everything exploded at once, as it always seemed to happen with magic, thought this time it was a bit more literal.

Aunt Marge had been visiting for a week already when it happened. Dudley despised the woman.

She loved too pinch his cheeks and coo at him but never gave him anything he _liked_. His mother always forced him to dress in annoying, ugly, clothes and _act nice_ when she showed up and then there was that _nasty _dog of hers, Ripper.

It had nearly bitten him more than once, an often chased Harry up trees (which was funny but then Harry was in a _tree_ then _he_ couldn't chase him). It also slobbered. A_ lot_.

But anyway, Aunt Marge was complaining about everything over dinner again when she started on Harry and Harry's parents. Dudley had sort of been expecting that, Harry had been even better at avoiding her than usual till she had requested his presence at dinner – she probably asked for Harry to be there just to talk down at him. She seemed to have a quota of insults she needed to dish out every time she came over and Harry was a good target, however while cramming so many insults in at once she obviously went too far.

Dudley knew this for a fact, and not just because items started exploding and Aunt Marge blew up like a balloon, but because he had never seen Harry get _that_ angry before. He knew Harry's moods, especially his cousin's anger and frustration, after all he was usually the instigator of such things in the smaller boy, but he had never seen Harry look like this before. His face was flushed, teeth and hands clenched, standing tall with chin raised, angry, sparkling, shiny, glowing green eyes looked on Aunt Marge's trembling but still growing form. His black hair and baggy clothes were moving in a nonexistent wind and small explosions only reinforced his hard glare and short words as the lights flickered and he left, grabbing his stuff and vanishing into the night.

The only thing Dudley could think afterwards even as two strange wizards in blue 'robes' came in to un-inflate Aunt Marge and erase her memory - were that he was glad he had never gotten Harry that angry at him and that he had never known that his cousin, the freak, could be so… impressive.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Dudley's third year at Smeltings brought some unexpected changes, while he still had his gang, thought they were down to four now, one of the newer boys had transferred to Stonewall, two major issues arose.

The first was the school nurse. Apparently she had decided that he was unhealthily overweight and had taken to sending letters home to his mother starting that he should start dieting immediately. It was insulting. Who was _she_ to say that _he_ needed a diet? Just because she was thinner than his mother… but it wasn't that bad till the stupid woman opened her mouth in the middle of the hallway and then the rest of the school knew about it. Older kids starting teasing _him_ and even his gang stopped hanging out with him as often. It was _awful_ and his mom even gave in and started enforcing the diet which just made everything _worse_.

The other issue that arose was his literature class. Since his gang was avoiding him he wasn't bullying as many people and therefore had no one else to do his literature homework for him at the moment. Even worse, their teacher was forcing them to read _King Arthur_ he would have refused to do it but the series work packets on the book were a large part of his grade. His mother had told him that the lower his grades where the longer his diet would last, (She insisted that he _had_ to at least pass his classes so she wouldn't be ashamed when talking with the neighbors) which meant that he actually had to do it _himself_.

As he slowly forced himself to make his way through the book, it was written in old English (they lived in England so why did he have to read something in _old_ English and _why_ was old English so different from _current_ English anyway?) which was kind of hard to understand at first but he eventually got the hang of it, he decided that the knights and King Arthur were interesting and the magic they mentioned didn't seem _that bad_. Partway through he realized that one of the characters was named Merlin; which sounded oddly like the name of the being his cousin had started cursing to, that time Dudley had mixed up the labels on the paint cans he needed at the beginning of summer. Suddenly it hit him. Merlin was a wizard. Merlin was a wizard his _cousin_ (who was also a wizard) cursed and prayed to. Did that mean that Merlin was real?

His shocking revelation started a change in him that his family would never have been able to imagine, suddenly he wanted to _know_. All those things that had been forbidden to know of, see, or hear as a child, fairytales, certain movies, shows, even books - anything that dealt with magic was sought out.

He was very careful to make sure that his new interest was hidden from his parents. He made sure to act as he always had when in front of others. And for the first time he was glad his gang was avoiding him as they wouldn't like his new interest in reading during his free time.

Summer couldn't come quickly enough, he was eager to corner his cousin and ask him about _everything_. But when it finally did he found himself caught up in his fears and worries about his parents finding out or Harry reacting in some strange horrible way, like by sticking his newfound criminal of a Godfather on him. So Harry returned and started his usual chores and in the end Dudley couldn't bring himself to ask, but he watched his cousin's every move with an odd intensity.

Harry was small, but he was strong. His form was lean with muscles from his chores and possibly some sort of sport, and the bother boy had always been a fast runner. His cousin's messy black hair was growing out and now brushed the edge of his jaw, standing out in sharp comparison to his pale skin, which didn't seem to darken at all even under the bright summer sun. Then there were his eyes, they all but glowed, like bright emerald jewels that lit up when filled with emotion.

Dudley had done many things as a child and still did today, just to get those green orbs to focus on him, shining with heat. Now that he had a reference Dudley liked to think that his cousin resembled or was one of those types of people who had once inspired the tales of the fey. Small, pale, and too beautiful with jeweled eyes- even if he hadn't known about his cousin's magic Dudley thought he might have mistaken him for one of the Seelie.

While his studies of his cousin made him more aware of Harry's presence it didn't answer his questions. Harry never talked about his school or what his life away from Number 4 was like, not that it would have been permitted even if the boy did have a friend around to talk to (his parents would have seen to that), so Dudley couldn't just eavesdrop on him and now that Harry was allowed to keep his magic things up in his room Dudley couldn't just break into the cupboard under the stairs and look through them on his own like he'd originally planned.

Then Harry was leaving and the family of magical red-heads came to pick him up.

Traveling through the fireplace was another surprise Dudley hadn't expected. Very few of the magical tales he had read/watched involved traveling through fire, and he had made the mistake of eating what was obviously a magical candy one of the twins had handed him that had lengthened his tongue for twenty minutes. But as _odd_ as the whole affair was he didn't really regret it and, secretly, he couldn't wait for the next summer and his cousin's return.


End file.
